August 2 - 5: Gordon to O'Neill

August 2 - Today we entered the famous Sand Hills of Nebraska. They are grass-covered sand dunes with pothole lakes and small streams throughout.

There are also a lot of cottonwoods, cattails, cattle and doves.

One of the nice little lakes that dot the sand hills.

This was in the Sand Cafe in Merriman where we stopped for lunch. The walls were covered with Polaroid pictures. Ours was added to the biker/misc. group.

Coming into the 2nd Cody of the trip. This one is a bit smaller than the one in Wyoming.

The city park invites travelers to camp there and even has a nice shower!

And very solid picnic tables.

A little later, a truck and travel trailer pulled in and plugged in. Jack and Susan came over to introduce themselves but we didn't get a picture. They are on their way to the Tetons.

August 3 - It started raining about an hour into today's ride. It was a warm rain so we didn't put on our pants. Needed wipers for the glasses though!

Oh no! ... We lose another hour!

The name is bigger than the creek at this point. We stopped in Kilgore for a snack and several Native Americans from the Rosebud Reservation inquired about our trip and then made a point of shaking our hands and wishing us safety. It stopped raining just after that.

It started raining again about 2 miles outside of Valentine, a pleasant town of about 3,000. It also just happens to be a major stopping point on the way to Sturgis. It is a good thing we got there early in the afternoon because by about 4:00 all the motels were booked and at 4:45 the weather service issued a tornado warning for the area!

August 4 - The Niobrara River, a popular canoe stream judging by the number of canoe rental places we saw in Valentine.

Still a little cloudy but today we have a tailwind and the terrain is getting ever more flat as we go east, though there is really no such thing as flat in the sand hills.

The boot fence: ­Nebraska's version of a shoe tree.

Now, we know we passed the middle of nowhere in Hampton, Oregon and Waltman, Wyoming! This "Middle of Nowhere" has really pleasant, small, full service communities.

We ran into Alborz, the young man walking Highway 20, just east of Ainsworth where we had stopped for lunch. He has modified his method of carrying the backpack. He is doing great and making 20-30 miles a day. He said he likes any kind of wind because it keeps him cool. We talked to him about an hour that evening in Bassett.

Coming into Bassett, our destination for the day. These are the contraptions that make all those round bales of hay.

August 5 - We found this well-preserved old gas station when we headed downtown for breakfast this morning. The cafe didn't open until 8:00 so we got some donuts back at the motel and took off.

Into the fog. It kept the temperature in the 70's most of the morning.

We figure it was about 100% humidity though. Doug's glasses kept misting up too along with the hair on his arms.

Newport #2 of our journey. We stopped and had a real breakfast here.

We arrived here just before noon and could have had another breakfast as part of Hay Days but we weren't that hungry yet.

They did have an extensive display of very old tractors. We ended the day in O'Neill, the Irish Capital of Nebraska, where we had an Italian dinner.

July 30 - August 1: Lusk, WY to Gordon, NE

July 30 - Loading up ... we are getting pretty efficient at this.

The main part of Lusk. They also have a beautiful old Carnegie Library made of brick and stone.

This was in Van Tassel, the very last little Wyoming spot on the map with its own claim to fame.

We are so happy to be entering Nebraska ... ­Wyoming seemed like it went on forever!

This byway follows Highway 20 about halfway across the state.

Main Street Harrison where we stopped for lunch.

The old post office which is now part of their local museum.

There were plenty of sideroads that must lead to ranches somewhere out there but we didn't see many ranch houses.

Guess this is how you find people in this part of the country.

An intriguing roadside plant ... just don't know what it is.

The high point: hard to tell unless you look both ways on the road.

One of the scenic sandstone buttes along this section.

An old forest fire area. Doesn't look like trees will be back anytime soon.

Fort Robinson was a cavalry remount station for years. It has been quite well preserved and they are recreating some of the older structures that had been lost. It is now a state park with all kinds of activities for the whole family. They even have an indoor swimming pool.

These are the some of the stables. You can actually board your horse for $10 a night. It looks like a wonderful place to ride a horse if you are so inclined.

The Trailside Museum of Natural History centers around the Columbian mammoth which is quite a bit bigger than the wooly mammoth.

Donna is just in the picture for scale.

The painting in the background shows an epic battle to the death between the 2 mammoth bulls whose bones are in the foreground.

Setting up the tent at Fort Robinson's Soldier Creek campground. Doug just thought we should have a picture of the process since we've done it so many times. The sound for today is locusts. The sound is like a high tension power line on a really hot day only more intense. The locals say they will have their first frost 6 weeks from now.

July 31 - Had a great breakfast in the Fort's cafe. This is the last picture of Donna's yellow jersey. It didn't make it under the bungees before we took off and she didn't notice when it fell off the bike ... darn it anyway! A couple of miles later we found a checkbook on the shoulder of the road. It belonged to people in Chadron and that is where we were headed. They were very happy to get it back ... a jersey is a lot easier to replace!

The buttes named in the Byway sign.

Evidence of a National Forest in the vicinity.

That is the Nebraska National Forest in the distance. Lots of trees but not much altitude.

Museum of the Fur Trade. It was very interesting and gave us time to consider our options. It was very windy by now and hot. We decided to return the 4 miles to Chadron and stay there for the night.

One of the actual fur trading outposts.

August 1 - Donna reading another historical marker sign. It is a lot easier to pull over on the bike than it seems to be when driving. Any excuse for a break!

It is a calm morning so far.

It is our hill for the day as we climb out of the valley bottom and back up to the plains. Once on top the wind really came up, this time from the northeast. It was not nearly so warm as yesterday's southeast wind and eventually we got rained on just east of Rushville. It only lasted about 10-15 minutes but the wind died down so we really didn't mind it at all.

This whole herd had some major horns. They looked mean just standing still. We also saw a flock of wild turkeys today.

Not quite the classic Tour de France picture but it's close!

We could see this grain elevator a long time before we got to Gordon, our destination for the day.

Gordon's Main Street.

Museum of the Cowboy.